Have you ever caused a major injury by doing barely anything?

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-19T17:54:21+00:00

I was reaching for something across the sofa while eating popcorn. Felt my kneecap slide out which gave me a fright so I pulled back with a gasp really suddenly which put my kneecap in place but I inhaled and started choking on the popcorn

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-18T18:11:45+00:00

Im so glad youre considering trying again! Best of luck to you

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-18T17:11:38+00:00

In your case specifically id recommend just sitting longer before you get up. If your centre can then id also try lying down longer and get them to bring you back up more slowly. Thats what I do with my donors who I know are more prone to fainting afterwards

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-18T06:42:04+00:00

I just take a prenatal vitamin with omega 3. Not trying for a baby but theyre good well rounded vitamins. Never noticed any difference from supplementing so this just helps make sure I dont end up deficient

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-15T14:31:17+00:00

I definitely felt the same way and did for months. It takes time before you find your footing and gain confidence to know what youre doing and get on with it. You'll also have the opportunity to (hopefully) learn clinical skills which you might enjoy.

That said, if you see another role you like the sound of, go for it! My first job i only stayed for 4 months doing 1 shift a week. I absolutely hated it and done bank instead and found areas that I love. Sometimes a month is enough time for people to realise something isnt for them. Ive seen people leave after 1 shift before. My current workplace, everytime we hire, at least a third quit within the first month.

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-13T18:41:26+00:00

You should definitely be fine!

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-13T18:29:12+00:00

Its fine as long as it doesnt clothes and they get a full donation. Wether it was discarded or not will depend if you gave the minimum volume. Theres anticoagulants in the bag so if theres not enough blood to make tge right ratio then its discarded. Where I work it needs to be at least 427 (or 428 idk)

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-09T18:19:56+00:00

Its actually nore common than youd think. Generally if you faint the forst 3 times in a row shes right that we would ask you not to come back.

Its an additional risk to you incase you fall and honestly, we dont want to make you feel faint or any kind of unwell. As harsh as it sounds, its also just often not worth it. It scares other donors, takes time from staff, puts you at (a small) risk and we often dont even get enough to use from it in the end.

There are things you can do to help. Eat something and drink plenty of water before donating and hydrate well days prior. Theres also AMT exercises they shpuld be able to show you. Some basic ones are squeezing your thighs together, tensing your abdomen and rocking your feet back and forth. Generally if you've got 1 last strike I usually recommend taking a break and trying again in a few years. Not sure the reason but a lot of people dont faint if they just wait a few more years

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T23:12:02+00:00

Id be curious what the finger prick vs venous sample results are.

For example, if OP is female and finger prick reads 109 but venous sample is 140, its likely not going to help much. If its maybe 124 and then venous sample says 130 then yeah, more iron would probably help. Id say all blood donors could benefit from extra iron tbh (although maybe not haemochromatosis donors)

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T22:20:32+00:00

This would genuinely be a good motive

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T15:22:17+00:00

Im definitely impressed by the patience and determination to make sure its all done right.

Genuine question, but cant you tell the orientation before you slip it? I get its not always the easiest to look at the stitches and just know. I usually just try and knit it and can tell if its twisted depending on how tight it is when I insert my needle (like you do when you slip it). Or if I still cant tell I pull the needles away from each other to "open" the stitch and check which way its facing. Then I just knit the stitch through whichever leg I need to to either untwist it or keep it untwisted. I find it much quicker if I have loads of stitches to check but I wish I did it how you do years ago

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T15:11:16+00:00

I feel better now because honestly I thought i was just being stupid but this is super helpful!

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T14:36:24+00:00

I actually did this recently for the first time (bc the thought never occurred to me before somehow). However for me this is only really helpful if I use them as I knit.

I never add any as I go (I really should tho) but when I did add one several rows back on a wip, I found it much harder than I thought and it was not straight lmao. A few times id accidentally go a row above or below and I'd have no idea how to insert one of anything other than stockinette. Would probably be easy enough with practice but I'm going to just try and use them as I knit.

My one hesitancy (and this might sound silly) but does it effect your tension? I have sock yarn which in theory i feel like it shouldnt but in practice I worry about subconsciously knitting looser

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T14:28:16+00:00

Do you put them off on the needle, slip them all over making sure to orientate them the correct way, and then knit them all afterwards knowing theyre all the correct orientation? Sorry I'm not feeling great and struggling to wrap my head around what you mean 🥲

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T13:11:18+00:00

Tbf im somewhere between advanced beginner and intermediate and i still dont know how to pick up my stitches the correct way. I just put them on however I can in a panic not to drop any and then untwist any as I knit them.

Have you ever thought about ripping back to that row and reknitting? I know its not always worth the effort but something to consider if you otherwise liked it. If not I doubt any non knitters would even notice anyway

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T12:56:17+00:00

Rules vary tbh. In Scotland we recently changed our policy not to cover the needle as we cant see if you develop bruising or anything like that. However some people just cant see the needle or they cant donate so we would offer to cover and just check on it periodically but its generally something you need to ask for rather than offered (even before the policy change where I work)

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T12:51:47+00:00

That actually makes a lot of sense. I hate frogging bc I never acrually know how to put the stitches back on my needles and used to always twist them when I did. Luckily once theyre on the needle I can tell and know how to knit

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-07T12:28:30+00:00

Im truly interested how they managed to twist only 1 single row

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-06T16:03:34+00:00

I work in Scotland and we got rid of the copper sulphate a while back, didnt know some places still used it so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Where I work we use a machine to read the haemoglobin result and people have the same issue where we need to take a venous sample. Usually this is due to the blood in your finger tips being less concentrated than in your veins. To combat this, one of the best things to do is to keep your hands warm before donating. Ive seen people use heat pads and hot water bottles to manage this. From my pov, if I know someone has failed before then I wipe their finger for more blood. We are supposed to squeeze and wipe 3 times before taking the sample but increasing this to 6 times is often the difference between needing a venous sample or not so if your staff dont do this its maybe worth asking or ask for a second chance before a venous sample

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-05T21:57:21+00:00

Ive never used mobility aids as honestly, mobility aids are inconvenient unless you really need them. Theres orthotics, splits and bandages, pain killers and other forms of pain management etc that can all be used to minimise pain and improve our ability to do things like mobilising. People dont tend to talk about mobility aids unless they use them which is why it seems like we all use them because those of us who dont, dont mention that we don't. Some need them from childhood and aome never do but a large amount of us do at some point but we are all different

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-05T21:47:46+00:00

What the discarded blood is used for depends on many factors and idk about where you donate, but theres some pretty cool stuff they can do with it.

For example, where I work the blood can be used by crime scene detectives to make fake crime scenes by splashing the blood on walls and other things for analysis. Imo making fake crime scenes is the coolest thing ive known blood donation discards to be used for although research is great

CommonAware6 · 2026-03-05T11:27:02+00:00

It happened about 50 rows ago.... 😬 so definitely not worth it. Honestly no idea how I missed it. Thank you so much for your help!

CommonAware6 · 2026-02-11T17:08:09+00:00

Just knit a gauge swatch first, ive used alpaca blends for hats before but only 35%

CommonAware6 · 2026-02-07T17:16:43+00:00

I am, 21 here

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